Against All Odds
by Hopelessly-Blissful
Summary: Okay, so this isn't a fan fiction of Sarah Dessen's books but in a way, it sorta resembles Dreamland. So..please READ AND REVIEW! Rating may go up a bit soon.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so like i said. This isn't a fan fiction of Sarah Dessen's but it's like the stories she writes. It sorta resembles _Dreamland_ in a way. But you'll notice that later on in the story. This is the only category I could think to put it under.**

**Chapter One**

_Dear Chrissy,_

_Just thought that I would write to tell you that, well, I'm here. We've finally arrived in the extremely boring and small county of Clay, Kentucky. It's pretty nice here...there's just nothing that I find interesting about this place._

_Why did my Mom have to get transferred here? I miss Hartford, and I miss you and Mark more than anything! I know that, most likely, I'm not going to be happy here. I was perfectly happy in Conneticut, but then, as usual, my mother had to interfere in my life and move me away from my two best friends._

_The town we're in only has about six restaurants, two supermarkets, only one Blockbuster, one small movie theater with only ten screens, one pretty big library, and one big church that apparently the entire town attends on Sunday mornings, as I saw when we were passing there on the way to my new 'home' if you can call it that._

_Henry Clay High School looks pretty average; there's a football and soccer field, and the campus is pretty big. It's hard to believe that I'll be attending there tomorrow instead of the one back home with you and Mark. Did I mention that I miss you guys? _

_Well, I'd better go. Write me! I dont know how I would survive without Email and letters, not to mention phone calls from you. Tell Mark to write as well,;I know he doesn't like to write letters or anything, but tell him 'Please, for me!'_

_I'll write you at the end of the week to let you know how my first three days of school went. Hopefully, by then, I'll have my computer hooked up in my new room, along with attachments of pictures of the new house that my mom has taken._

_Love you guys tons!_

_Katie_

I looked over my letter several times, making sure I'd said everything that I wanted to. It would be much easier, as I tell my Mom every chance I get, to just let me move back to Hartford and stay with Chrissy and her twin brother, Mark. That's what they kept suggesting anyway, so what's the harm in that?

I carefully folded the letter in half, then in quarters to make it fit inside the envelope. I sealed it and then walked down the stairs, my feet dragging tiredly as I ascended into the kitchen.

I'd spent the entire morning helping Mom unpack everything in the kitchen and organizing everything. I could definetely think of other more interesting and fun things I could be doing, even in this little boring town.

Mom was in the kitchen, putting some framed pictures of sunflowers - which matched the wallpaper - up on the walls.

She looked over at me when she heard me enter and gave me a tired smile. "Oh, hi, honey." She said, her voice was weary from lack of sleep over the past few days since we'd arrived. "Do you mind taking out this trash?"

There was three large bags of garbage sitting next to the door, waiting to be taken out for the garbage man in the morning.

"Sure, Mom." I mumbled, my voice quiet as usual as I deposited the letter I had just finished on the table with the other outgoing mail and walked over to the bags and picked them up by the plastic pull-handles and opened the back door, stepping out into the warm spring air.

The sun was bright above me, with not a gray cloud in sight. I squinted up at the baby blue sky, looking at the fluffy white clouds lazily drifting towards the west.

I could hear one of the neighbors' dogs barking, a small '_yipp_' sound and what sounded like a little girls' laughter.

I sighed as I walked out through the gate, seperating the backyard from the front and walked to where the trash cans were beside the mail box. I lifted the lid and dropped the bags of trash inside then shut the lid again.

"Hi there, deary." Our neighbor from across the street, an eldery woman called to me, her voice warm and welcoming.

"Hello, Mrs. Aberson." I called back, giving her a forced smile and a small wave.

"Nice day, isn't it?" She said conversationally, her already wrinkled face smiling at me, making it seem even more wrinkled.

"Yeah, it is. Summer's coming quick." I said back, hoping she'd leave it at that so I could go back inside. I was never too great with talking to people like that; it was too awkward and uncomfortable.

"It sure is, dear." Mrs. Aberson said, getting the mail out of her box and looking through it.

"Yeah...well, I'd better go back inside and help my mom with things..." I said, searching for an excuse, but wanting to be polite about it.

"Oh, of course, dear. Don't let me keep you from your work." She gave me a cheerful wave and retreated back inside her large Victorian house, as all the houses on this street was.

I walked back up the cobblestone path to the front door and opened it, stepping inside and wiping my feet on the mat, not wanting to vacume yet again that morning.

I glanced at the clock on the wall as I entered the kitchen once more, where Mom was now organizing the silverware.

It was already five in the evening, which meant that soon enough I would have to take a shower and go to bed for my first day of school in the morning. I kept telling my Mom that I just wanted to wait until Monday to go, because there was no sense in starting on a Wednesday, but as usual, she overruled me, telling me not to be ridiculous.

That always got me pissed off when she said that I was being 'ridiculous'. But what could I do? If I mouthed off, then that would only get me grounded for about a month and make my life here even more miserable if that was possible. So I figured it was best to just go with things and see where I ended up.

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**Okay, do you like it? Let me know and leave a review please!!!! I LOVE reviews. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Much thanks to my first reviewers: _HappyEndings_ and _Alice_. I'm glad you liked the first chapter of this. Here is the second chapter and I hope you like it as much as the first.**

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**Chapter Two**

My blaring alarm clock woke me up the next morning at six o' clock sharp. I sat up tiredly, shielding my eyes against the sunlight creeping in through my purple lacey curtains.

I got dressed in a pair of casual jeans and a black tank top with the Japanese symbol for love on the front in white. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and put on my sneakers, walking out of my bedroom and going downstairs, grabbing my blue backpack on the way.

Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a piece of uneaten toast in front of her on a small saucer was ignored as she read the morning paper.

"Morning, Mom." I said, my voice slurred a bit from where I wasn't completely awake yet.

"Good morning, sweetheart." She replied, putting the paper down and taking a sip of her coffee in a Mickey Mouse mug I had gotten her for Mothers' Day when I was seven.

"Ready for school?" She asked.

"No." I replied truthfully. I was far from ready. "But I suppose I have to be."

"That's the attitude. Ready for anything, you are." She said, smling at me. "Come on, we can go if you have everything. I'll give you a ride on the way to work."

We walked outside to the SUV and got inside; Mom started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"You know, I could have just walked." I said to her as she stopped at a stop sign at an intersection. "It's only one mile from the house."

"Well, you can walk tomorrow if that's what you want. I just wanted to take you the first day so you could get used to the route." She said, looking over at me, giving me that look I always give her as if about to challenge her.

Everyone always said that we acted, and looked alike. I had her dark eyes and dark hair and was short like her. I don't think that I got any of my father's traits at all. He was a tall, muscular man with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He and Mom were exact opposites.

My father passed away a few years before from a car accident. He was on the Interstate going to work in the early morning hours. A drunk driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed three lanes, hitting my Dad head on.

My father always had a problem with remembering to wear his seat belt, and he was thrown from the car, and killed instantly.

It was really hard on my mom. They had been so much in love, and were even talking about having another baby, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Mom always told me that apparently, God had decided it was his time to go. That there was a plan that needed to be stuck to. That he had served his purpose in life and was needed elsewhere. In another life.

I had been really close to my dad though. We went fishing together and went to hockey games on the weekends. He took me to the mall so I could get new CDs and check out the latest electronics.

It seemed to be a life out of a fairy-tale. I was happy. Our family was happy, but all that had to end in one instant.

Things kept playing through my mind like 'what if'.

What if he had left home on time that morning? Would he still be here? Would we still be in Hartford?

What if he had seen the other car in time? Would he have been able to swerve to avoid it?

None of these things I would find out. He was dead and gone and we had moved on, though sometimes at night I could hear my mother in her room, crying. When I'd go to investigate, I'd see through a crack between the door and the door frame, her sitting on the edge of her bed, gripping a picture of her and Dad in her long, pale fingers, tears streaming steadily down her once rosy cheeks, when would then turn pale.

That image always made my heart break in two, and I would quietly and slowly head back into my bedroom, feeling my eyes prickle with unshed tears.

Before I knew it, Mom had stopped in front of Henry Clay High School and was looking at me. "Now have a great first day, sweetheart." She said, her voice encouraging.

"Right...thanks Mom." I said and got out of the car, giving her a wave before closing the door. She pulled away as the cars in front of her did, dropping off other students and I was left looking up at the large building.

Mom had told me last night to first go to the office. I walked inside the school with the crowd of students that were getting off the bus, and getting out of their cars and saw a sign above a door which read '_Administration Office_'.

I stepped inside and one of the secretaries looked up at me. She had golden eyes and small, rimless glasses, looking at me with hawk-like eyes.

"May I help you?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Um...I just transferred here..." I said, not knowing exactly what I was supposed to say, that part already forgotten.

"Name?" She prompted me.

"Katie Wilson."

She pulled a folder out of a filing cabinet next to her desk and typed something into her computer. "Ah, right. Give me one moment to print out your schedule."

"Is there any maps of the school?" I asked, knowing how big this place was. "I'm not sure I could find my way around..."

"I have already assigned you a guide for the day. He's in all your classes so he can help you. He should be here any minute actually." The woman -who's name plate on the desk read 'Elizabeth Ringlaut' - said as my schedule came zooming out of the paper tray on the printer.

She handed it to me. "Your books are on that table," She added, gesturing over to a small table several feet from her desk. "And your locker number is on your schedule."

"Okay...thank you." I said, as I went over to the books and picked them up.

"Ah, here's your student guide." Miss Ringlaut said as a boy came rushing in the door. He had light brown hair and very bright blue eyes. He wore black rimmed glasses that looked too dark for his pale skin complexion and he had on a blue and white striped button-down shirt and a pair of faded jeans.

"This is Norman Adamson." Miss Ringlaut introduced and he stood there, looking as if he did this sort of thing everyday, which I highly doubted. There weren't enough people in this town to do this sort of thing every day.

"And Norman, this is Katie Wilson. She just transferred from Hartford, Conneticut." The woman finished and Norman held his hand out to me, smiling.

"Hey, welcome to Kentucky," he said with a country accent, though not as pronounced as some I had heard since I'd arrived. I shook his hand and smiled back politely. "Hi, and thanks." I replied.

The bell rang in the hallway and Norman looked at his watch. "I'll show you to your locker, then we need to get to class. That was the warning bell." He said and I nodded.

He led the way out the door, holding it open for me since I now had my arms occupied with my books.

"So, Conneticut, huh?" He said interestedly, looking over at me once we were in the hall. Almost everyone was in class now, only a few stragglers hurrying towards their homeroom.

"Yeah." Was all I said. This was the one time I wished I wasn't so bad with making conversation with people.

"Kentucky must be a lot different." He commented, turning to walk down a different hallway to the left, and I followed.

"Yeah, it is... Really, really different actaully..." I said, my tone quieter than normal from nerves.

Norman chuckled and stopped walking suddenly. "What's your locker number?"

I looked at the schedule on top of my Geography book and scanned the page. "Um...two-fourteen." I said, finally finding it.

"Okay, it's just across the hall from mine then." He said smiling and walked several more feet down the hall and over to one of the lockers.

"Here, I'll hold your books while you put in the combiation." He offered and I gratefully handed over my heavy books. I checked the paper one last time and entered the combination, the pulled the locker door open. Luckily, it didn't get stuck. That was definetly one plus to this place. My locker back at my Hartford school stuck everyday.

One by one, I took the books out of Norman's arms and placed them in the locker, the spines of the books facing out so I could grab them quickly in between classes.

"Thanks," I mumbled when I was done putting them in and his arms were book-free.

"Hey, no problem." He said, smiling warmly at me. "We should get to Biology though."

I nodded and grabbed my Biology book and shut the locker door, my notebook and pens in my backpack.

Norman led the way to the Biology lab which was about two hundred yards from where our lockers where located.

"These halls are so confusing," I admitted quietly to him as we neared the lab.

He gave a small laugh and said, "Don't worry about it. Stick with me and you'll be fine. If you think the halls are confusing, just wait until lunch. There are so many cliches, it'll make your head spin. Sit at a table that's taken over by, let's say the cheerleading squad, and you'll get your lungs tore out."

My eyes went wide. "Then...where am I supposed to sit?"

"Don't worry, the cheerleaders won't actually do that to you. But they'll say some things to you that will make you feel like crap. Happened to my friend Anna in our freshman year. She was dissolved to tears... You can sit with us if you want. Plent of room at our table." He said and walked into the Biology lab.

"Okay, thanks." I told him, taken aback by the abrupt but nice offer.

"No problem." He smiled then said to the teacher, "She's the new transfer student. Katie Wilson."

"Ah yes," the teacher, who's name that I'd found on my schedule was Mr. Greene. "Welcome to the class, Katie. You two can take a seat; you were just in time."

He motioned us to our seats and we sat down at one of the lab tables with about four others in our group.

I had a strong feeling that this would be a long day.

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**R&R Please!! I Love to hear what you have to say. Constructive critisism is welcome, but no flames, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, here's a new chapter. Please let me hear your opinions and views of this story, so constructive critism is always allowed.

Chapter Three

When the bell rang at the end of my last class of the day--Drafting--I felt tired, and my bloodshot eyes showed it all too well.

As I exited the classroom, Norman looked over at me, concern written all over his face. "Are you alright, Katie?" He asked me as we walked down the hall to our lockers, trying not to get caught in the end-of-the-day rush of students who were forming a lethal mass around us, making me trip and stumble several times.

"Yeah," I replied to him. "Perfectly fine."

He gave me a brief look as if to say 'Whatever you say' but he kept his comments to himself and left my side for a moment to go across the hallway to his locker, which, as I had learned that day, got stuck quite frequently.

I stuffed all my books into my backpack at my locker and then shut the locker door with a loud snap that was barely heard over everyone's voices and shoes squeaking in the hall.

I zipped up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, accidentally hitting the guy behind me's shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said, turning around to face him, feeling my cheeks heat a little in embarrassment.

The guy chuckled. "No worries, it would take a lot more than that to take me out." He smiled, showing perfect, white teeth. As I looked at him, I noted his long blond hair that fell to his shoulders and his bright green eyes, though mixed with a bit of gold flecks. He was pretty tall; taller than both Norman and I, so if I had to guess, I would say about six-foot-two and he was pretty mascular. Hardly any fat at all; basiaclly all muscle. He wore faded low-rise jeans and a short-sleeve black shirt that he had only half-buttoned up.

I smiled back, feeling self-conscious. Was my hair a mess? Something in my teeth from lunch? Was there something on my face? Right then, I didn't know and there was nothing I could do about it if there was. "Um...yeah...I should have been watching what I was doing..."

He put a large, friendly hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Accidents happen. This is your first day here, right?"

I nodded, still finding it hard to speak around him...this was just not normal for me. "Yeah...I am." Not much, but hey, it was something, at least.

"Oh, cool. I'm David, and you are...?" He extended his hand towards me.

I took his hand and we shook. "I'm Katie."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He declared, grinning at me.

I blushed deeply and I felt my cheeks growing very hot...I only prayed I wasn't as red as an apple. "Um...thank you." I said shyly, looking up at him.

Norman suddenly appeared at my shoulder, raising his eyebrows inquiringly. "Ready to go, Katie?"

"How do you Katie, Nerdman?" David asked, looking at Norman...well let's just say, it was in a less-than-nice sort of way.

"I think that's my buisness, Richardson, not yours." Norman said boldly, standing his ground.

David rolled his eyes and sighed, "Well, I'll catch you later, Katie. I have to get to football practice."

"Alright," I said, nodding. "See you later, David."

David turned to leave, but threw a glare over his shoulder, directed exactly at Norman.

Norman sighed and turned around so he was no longer facing David's retreating back. "If you're ready, we can go. I live on the same street that you do. I'll walk you back home."

"Yeah, I'm ready. Thanks, Norman." I gave him a smile and followed him out of the school's doors, most of the students had already left in the time my and David's small interaction took place.

As we walked back towards my house, I couldn't help but ask Norman a question that had been bugging me for the last...oh two minutes. "So...what's the deal with you and David?"

Norman was quiet for a minute, and just when I thought he wasn't going to answer me, he spoke up. "Ever since Junior High, he's hated my guts. I beat him out three years in a row for class president and I made the Academic Team for two years and he didn't get accepted into it. He thought I stole his pride and glory but I coudln't help that I was the one who got picked and he was stuck at the sidelines. It's the same way in the sports deparment, except in reverse; he's always the winner and I'm just not athletic enough. He thinks that it's a competition: I best him at the academic stuff, and he bests me at football and girls. It's just a whole pointless competition with him." He fell silent, looking at the sidewalk in front of him as we walked.

"But...he doesn't...I don't know, Norman." I said, at a loss for words. David seemed so sweet earlier...well to me, anyway. He didn't seem to take well with Norman.

Beside me, Norman shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. That's just between us. It shouldn't affect you...getting caught in the middle and all that."

"Thanks, Norman." I said, but how could I not worry? Throughout the day, Norman and I had become good friends. But there was something about David...something I really liked.

Pretty soon we were in front of my house and we stopped. Norman turned to look at me. "Katie..." He began, but he stopped, probably searching for the right words for what he was about to say.

I looked at him expectantly. "Um...yeah, Norman?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in impatience.

"Just...be careful around David Richardson, okay?" I wondered why he was telling me this. Just because David didn't like him, didn't mean that he didn't like me as well.

"But David seems perfectly al--" I began, but he quickly cut me off before I could finish.

"Just please promise me that you'll be careful."

I sighed and nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll be careful."

He let out a relieved breath and placed his hand on my arm briefly. "Thank you."

"Sure, Norman. No problem." I replied.

"Katie, dinner's on the table!" I looked around to see my mother poking her head out the front door, looking at us.

"I'm coming!" I called back and she retreated back into the house. I turned to Norman. "I have to go inside. I'll see you tomorrow."

Norman nodded. "Okay, yeah, I'll see you then. Bye, Katie." He walked off down the street two houses down and went inside one of the big Victorians with a white fence around it and a large fountain in the yard.

As I walked inside my own house and took a seat down at the table, I wondered what Norman was trying to warn me of. Why did I have to be so careful around David? What was it about David that made Norman so jumpy and paranoid? I guessed I would probably find out in time.

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